FAA temporarily suspends drone registration overnight

The Federal Aviation Administration have temporarily suspended its online registration for drones Tuesday night to perform site maintenance.

"While an overwhelming number of people have successfully registered, we have received reports from a small number of users of performance issues. We have instructed our contractor, CSRA, to address these issues and to complete other maintenance in advance of the post-holiday demand," the FAA wrote on their website.

The registration site was offline beginning Tuesday at 9:00 p.m. and is expected to resume service around 6 a.m. Wednesday. The site will then be down at 9:00 p.m. Wednesday and resume 6:00 a.m. Thursday.

Customers may use the system throughout the day on Wednesday before it is taken offline in the evening.

"The agency has seen strong initial demand, with more than 45,000 registrations completed since the site opened for business Monday afternoon," the FAA said.

The FAA cites industry estimates that as many as 400,000 drones could be sold during the holidays.

The FAA is requiring registration of all aircraft weighing more than 0.55 pounds and less than 55 pounds, including payloads such as on-board cameras.

"Registration will foster a greater awareness on the part of users to learn the rules about flying safely in the National Airspace System. Registration will also enable the FAA to trace the ownership of an aircraft in the event of an incident," the FAA says.

Online: http://www.faa.gov/uas/registration/